Blockchain
Base, a Layer 2 network under development by Coinbase, reported that over a million wallets initiated smart contracts on its test network during the Builder Quest period.
This initiative is designed to identify potential problems in the network, which is still a testnet, under conditions of high stress. With this increase in activity, the team was able to identify critical stress points in both the platform’s design and infrastructure, which it is now actively addressing. Still, it found these issues difficult to resolve while keeping the entire system working as intended.
During this testing phase, the network experienced a significant spike in activity and a deluge of >noted: “After the implementation of this [doubling gas limit] adjustment, we ran into problems due to larger L2 blocks when transferring blocks back to the Goerli L1.” After this, the team continued to fine-tune the parameters related to the batch processing of transactions.
“We refined parameters and made adjustments, hoping to strike a balance,” said Base. “Despite these changes, the system struggled to reach equilibrium and publish the unsafe blocks to the L1. This could close the gap – highlighting the need for a more robust long-term solution,” the team acknowledged.
Base is built on Optimism’s development software stack, known as the OP Stack, and is designed to serve as a collapsed network, similar to Optimism. It aims to perform off-chain computation on a secondary layer to enable faster, cheaper transactions – all while maintaining the security benefits of the Ethereum mainnet. In addition, this solution could potentially become the default Layer 2 network for Coinbase’s on-chain products.
Base responds with system optimizations
Base’s core team made two optimizations in an attempt to stabilize the system after a major spike in activity. First, the core team said, it improved data compression, aiming to make better use of the “L1 transaction call data.” Second, the team modified their system to allow the submission of multiple batches of transactions for each L1 block, rather than a single batch at a time. These changes, the team said, could fix the technical issues previously observed.
“Looking at mainnet, these changes not only pave the way for potential block gas limit increases, but also ensure that base rates remain low and accessible to users,” the team said. [changes] also increases the reliability of writing L2 data to the L1, crucial for fast withdrawals and transactions.
The Base team previously reported that its testnet has attracted interest from a range of developers and projects, including Blackbird, Thirdweb, OAK, and Parallel. In addition, notable DeFi platforms such as Uniswap and Aave are considering deploying to Base once it goes live.